Chia and Synnott’s entire chapter on new media and PR was very interesting to me, mostly because they mentioned Astroturfing and addressed it as unethical. This is in line with my earlier findings on astroturfing and google bombing. Chia and Synnott describe what must be seen as rather obvious to my generation of digital natives: the proliferation of digital media, empowerment of the individual, PR practitioners taking up these new platforms despite any reservations, and decentralisation of the construction of meaning. I do not dispute their claims, but I would like to highlight an increasingly worrying trend both in new and old media: that of information warfare and manipulation. Yes, the RANT category is back!

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This week’s lecture dealt with the execution of PR though specific standing procedures. While it is very much the prerogative of the academic to discuss the theoretical inklings of Public Relations, these notions should be reinforced by actual application. Said application is both an actualised implementation of textbook lessons and a reinforcement of personal belief in the teachings of PR. The reasons why the administration of PR is taught accompanying the underlying theories are twofold: firstly, it acts as an experiential anchorage for students to, in the future, recall useful tips, secondly, it roots out any ill-conceived notions that students may hold. Bad ideas do not survive long in an practising operational environment. Either the person with the bad idea reaches an ideological compromise with the collective ideology, or the person himself is ejected(excluded) from the system.

But this correction is only tangential to the process of PR. The pedantic textbook and educator dictated that certain established procedures have become the standard of Public Relations in the Industry. These procedures are broken down into the steps gathering insight, of goal setting, formulating and implementing strategies and tactics, and finally evaluation(follow-through). This blog post examines and critiques each of the steps along the way. Continue reading ‘Week 3:The Art of PR: Goals, Insight, Tactics, Evaluation’